"We're not free no more."
US-China, climate, politics, imperialism and world economy "feeds concerns about dual loyalties" Chicagoland | he/him
2,497 followers 740 following 1,486 posts
view profile on Bluesky
"We're not free no more."
"Make sure you carry your passport."
Was this recently?
Just saw a TikTok video from a Latino man who said he got questioned by ICE in Maywood (near western suburb of Chicago, just north of Broadview which hosts an ICE facility). Luckily he had his passport in the car. They didn't let him go until they saw it.
youtu.be/8Dl57NV9B8g
ABC News Chicago did a “ride along” propaganda piece for the Gestapo
In #Rochester, #NewYork, 100 marched to surround a house where roofers were being detained by ICE. While one person was taken, several others were left alone as the crowd "shouted “shame” and "Gestapo,” and applauded as agents...drove...away on four flat tires." www.wxxinews.org/local-news/2...
"NO ONE IS ILLEGAL." Koreans protesting the Georgia ICE raid in front of the US Embassy in Seoul. (AP/Asahi)
Korea Herald editorial: "Three South Korean battery companies are constructing plants at 10 US locations. Their combined investments amount to $43 billion. If it remains difficult for employees to travel to the US ... investment plans will be frozen or put off." www.koreaherald.com/article/1057...
Omg
bsky.app/profile/tobi...
I encourage Xi to use the term “rules based order” on the grounds that I would find it very funny
Xi: “trade wars and tariff wars waged by some country severely disrupt the world economy and undermine international trade rules. Countries cannot thrive without an international environment of open cooperation, and no country can afford to retreat to self-imposed isolation.”
BRICS call to defend the status quo against US revisionism “both [Lula] and Xi urged BRICS members to stand united in defense of a multilateral system they said is under threat” www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Regarding the Doha strike -- it's wild to see Israel coming into its own as a total rogue state in the region the way its patron state has been around the globe for so many years.
And U.S. forces at Al Udeid are there to provide air defenses. Likely to call into question the value of hosting U.S. bases.
NEW: Official Statement from the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), in response to the ICE Targeted Enforcement Operation in Ellabell, Georgia, on 9/4/2025. — We cannot sacrifice Korean workers to Trump's gangster politics. — Stop investing in the US substack.com/@timshorrock...
"If being a firefighter…is not sufficient to earn you a place in American society, what is? If it’s not even enough to afford you a modicum of respect from the goons enforcing our new immigration regime, who can hope for kinder treatment? The answer is obvious: no one."
"it is estimated that on-demand [gig] workers in the manufacturing industry number around 40 million, making up 31.12% of the sector’s total workforce" www.eastisread.com/p/dandan-zha...
An injury to one is an injury to all!
UAW statement: "Unfortunately, the militarized federal crackdown on these workers further hurts safety at Hyundai. Workers are not the problem. Exploitative corporations are. The UAW will always stand with all workers—immigrant and native-born alike" uaw.org/uaw-issues-s...
Degrowth accelerationism
‘The architects of the Gaza policy “should not come back into public life. If people understood their role in this, they would not be allowed back.”’
Dude
To put this into context, the judicial warrant for the search at the Hyundai plant named just four people. Relying on that warrant, ICE detained nearly 500 people. DHS admitted that included U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and people lawfully here on visas.
It was a brilliant maneuver, everyone agreed www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/...
Campaign ad: "On the border, the choice is simple. Kamala Harris supports increasing the number of border patrol agents; Donald Trump blocked a bill to increase the number of border patrol agents."
“Donald Trump has been talking a big game about securing our border, but he does not walk the walk” www.newsweek.com/kamala-harri...
Remember when Harris and leading Democrats spent the 2024 campaign trying to attack Trump for being weak on border security
"Half the population” of greater Los Angeles "now meet the government’s criteria for reasonable suspicion," in the wake of today's 6-3 SCOTUS ruling. www.latimes.com/politics/sto...
trump battering US-SK relations in this post-immigration raid political cartoon from Maeil Business www.mk.co.kr/news/cartoon...
Minus the idea that it might make business sense to increase worker pay
Even if their argument were right (I don't think it is but whatever) I don't see how their POV ultimately wins out in the intensifying intraparty struggle, which I suspect will escalate to a whole new level after the midterms
Shoulders were too big for him
"US Migrant Raid Jolts South Korea, Stirs Investor Anxiety" www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
coming soon, Japan is no longer wakanda for racist white people because increased the immigrant population to 3% from 2%
A brief search didn't reveal what this is about but I did get an update on his beard, staying strong
wait what
I was a fan of the book once upon a time
I don't know what RadioGenoa is, but I will say that most working definitions of "white people" in 1900 didn't include Italians.
There is an on ramp here to labor internationalism. We experimented a little with that under Trump 1.0
All apologies to Prof Brandom
Making it explicit
Highest level of support since Gallup started asking this question a quarter century ago
It's seeming likelier and likelier that AI really could eliminate a lot of jobs very soon. Just not in the way boosters have suggested. www.theatlantic.com/economy/arch...
“The U.S. hasn’t really lost India,” Mr. Rajagopalan said. “Trump is trying very hard, obviously, to push India away… But outside of that, I think India is very keen on having a close relationship with the United States. If he wants India, he can get it back.” www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/u...
“while the downturn in U.S. relations has accelerated India’s rapprochement with China, Indian officials are clear that they remain fundamentally wary of Beijing’s intentions” www.nytimes.com/2025/09/06/w...
Indonesia’s EV market hits a turning point in 2025 as Battery Electric Vehicles sales surpass hybrids, signaling shifting consumer demand and growing infrastructure support in the country’s auto industry.
CBS/YouGov poll: – 57% oppose deploying the National Guard to DC – 58% oppose deployments to other cities – Just 36% on independents support deployments Pundits who are imagining a hypothetical voter should stop claiming that voter would support these deployments: www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-n...
Still trying to understand the Hyundai ICE raid. Supposedly a months-long investigation that... picked up people here on visas, permanent residents, and U.S. citizens? I also haven't seen anyone charged under 8 USC §1324a for hiring undocumented employees. 🤔 www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/u...
BREAKING: ICE is sending Russian dissidents back to Russia. When the dissidents arrived in Russia, the Russian authorities were given documents relating to their asylum applications in the US which under US law are confidential. This seems to be part of a secret agreement between Trump and Putin.
“Talking to my friends last night, I had one guy say, ‘We’re getting mixed messages from the administration: You want our money, but you don’t want us,’” Ms. Overby said. “It had a chilling impact all across board rooms in Asia.” www.nytimes.com/2025/09/06/u...
The good old days
On Saturday, September 6th, thousands gathered across Chicago to protest President Trump’s plan to deploy National Guard troops to the city. Protesters carried signs and chanted “No Trump, No Troops, No Occupation.” 📷 steel brooks #Chicago
“The U.S. trade representative’s office has said that other barriers include Mexico’s energy policies favoring state-run companies” www.wsj.com/economy/trad...
The Onion News Network truck is currently stationed outside the Broadview ICE Detention facility just outside of Chicago.
Happening now: a large protest is coalescing in Chicago's Congress Plaza against the Trump admin's plans to conduct a month+ long immigration blitz in (and, per Trump's Truth Social post earlier today, implicitly threaten to sic the Department of War on) the Chicagoland area.
Since we've been out here observing, this small and growing group of neighbors (no organized protest planned today) have been repeatedly facing off with agents.
South Korea's foreign minister is considering a trip to the U.S. to meet with the Trump administration after hundreds of South Koreans were arrested in Georgia at an electric vehicle battery plant.
I know none of this is funny and I’m not sure what wall I’ve hit where I’m resorting to jokes, but I swear “Chipocolypse Now” sounds like something chips ahoy or the Keebler elves gave us in the 80s
Interesting, not only sand dredging but also drilling?
If you remain sanguine about the potential for catastrophic geopolitical events under Trump II, here’s a rec: Read Annie Jacobsen‘s Nuclear War scenario alongside this mega scoop about Trump I recklessly sending a SEAL team into North Korea. You’ll never sleep again. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/u...
I've followed defence tech industry (war tech?) narratives for a while - renaming of the DoD as Department of War, & the pivot to some crude ideation of war, victory and warriors is a longer-standing fantasy floated by figures like Alex Karp (Palantir) and Palmer Luckey (Anduril). 1/
We have not yet begun to war crime
It is funny to see people still using “aggressive authoritarian nation” to describe a set of countries that excludes the US
80s dystopian scifi really nailed the vibes
"While 48% believed that China should take on a shared leadership role in the international system, 41% said it should take on a dominant role."
"The study found that 90% of Chinese people supported their country's participation in world affairs...Research published by the Pew Research Center in May suggests fewer than 50% of Americans believe it is best for the future of the U.S. to be active in world affairs." www.npr.org/2025/09/05/n...
"invested in 'Trump MAGA' and got 300 Koreans arrested in return" "under the guise of an "immigration crackdown," U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids Hyundai and LG Ensol factories"
Top story on the website for the rightwing Chosun Ilbo. At least via google translate the headline sounds pissed www.chosun.com/economy/indu...
6/8 Today's jobs report confirms the broader damage: Manufacturing employment fell by 12,000 jobs last month and has declined every month since May. This mirrors exactly what happened during Trump's previous trade war in 2018-19.
U.S. is just Sideshow Bob stepping on rakes for the rest of time
There's a increasingly wide gulf between what you might call "local abundance"—which largely consists of liberal and progressive activists and local electeds trying to do YIMBY-type things—and "DC abundance," which hosts conferences where Oren Cass is a speaker for some reason.
Oren Cass's role is to argue for blood-and-soil politics in bloodless economic terms www.nytimes.com/2025/09/03/o...
The psychology of CEO loyalty to Trump on.ft.com/467tAdY | opinion
I’m in @financialtimes.com on Trump’s recent move to make the Pentagon the top shareholder in the US only rare earths mine. This is the “worst of all worlds” resource nationalism: a toxic mix of environmental harm, militarism, Big Tech, financial de-risking, and asset appreciation. Link below ⬇️
“The fall in job openings appears to be centered around two areas: health care & social assistance and state and local government. This is notable because these acylical parts of the jobs market have been the areas lifting employment growth the most.” www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
chat how do i get someone to buy my company for at least 10x my estimated revenue
You know that boat the administration blew up? A former law enforcement official told the NYT the boat seemed to be carrying not drugs but *’migrants * www.nytimes.com/2025/09/03/u...
Remember like eight months ago when Hegseth fired all the most senior JAGs whose job is to stop him from doing illegal things?
“Witnesses say U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were spotted outside of the Domestic Violence Courthouse in Chicago's West Loop on Wednesday, taking at least one person into federal custody ahead of their scheduled court appearance.” www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...
for other DC people - @freedcproject.bsky.social is collecting signatures in protest of the mayor's executive order calling for cooperation with Trump freedcproject.org/news/no-conf...
Dang, I was hoping it was one of your podcast episodes!
You'd think this one would be easy
Bullshit machine continues to bullshit
This is why I think a serious theory of deskilling is how we have to think about the proliferation of apparent bullshit jobs. It's capitalism, it's a war over wages. That's why "Why We Fear AI" calls this Techno-Taylorism
2/ China.....maybe its not just "cheap labor" and "subsidies" www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/c...
Also, even the idea of a single national identity for most European countries is relatively new, despite the claim of these "ancient nations." As of 1794, only 11% of people in France spoke French as a first language, and nearly half didn't speak French or spoke it poorly.
"Donald the Dove" out here trying to trigger a regime change war with Venezuela. Lil Marco finally gets to do something he truly cares about. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
I'm at NatCon this week, where I am trying to listen more than post. But here's a vibey quote from one panel: "Remigration has become the essential political question. We have entered a period in which Winston Churchill maters less to us than Enoch Powell."
When you have troops under the command of the Texas governor illegally operating in Illinois against the wishes of the Illinois governor, that seems like it's already on the spectrum of internal conflict, regardless if anyone fights back. But whatever it is, it is not the Union as we know it.
Given what I was up to during his first primary lol
We hate a lot more of the same people than I ever expected
Illinois Gov. Pritzker ahead of Trump National Guard deployment: "To Chicagoans... Look out for your communities and your neighbours. Know your rights. Film things that you see happening... Authoritarians thrive on your silence. Be loud for America."
this is going to sound stupid but it's entirely because we live in the era of postmodern fascism and because they wanted to post a video about them killing people for the base
If you have to avoid speaking out on behalf of the victims of US state power in order to avoid being exposed to state violence yourself, then you’re not free
This is criminal. Arrest and prosecute. Extra-judicial killings are abhorrent to the rule of law.
This feels like a different topic It is true that China shut down a lot of coal in the 2010s, and that this preceded the explosion in renewables, but I'm not about the causal link. One of the main arguments for the coal closures was economic inefficiency
I also recall a suggestion that the incumbent US-led institutions might be better at that latter kind of work Does any of this ring any bells for anyone? @chinagsproject.bsky.social @beltandroadpod.bsky.social @kevinpgallagher.bsky.social @profjulietlu.bsky.social @jeremywallace.bsky.social
Help, please. I dimly recall a discussion of how China's BRI projects are good at building big central pieces of infrastructure but less good at connecting it with smaller bits to create an integrated system. Metaphorically, they focus on the main arteries but not how to organize the capillaries